A Country Doctor Goes to War

Tamara Thayer
Minnesota Heritage Publishing (2014)
ISBN 9780985093761
Reviewed by Sheri Hoyte for Reader Views (3/15)


“A Country Doctor Goes to War” by Tamara Thayer is a beautiful dedication to her grandfather – Ellsworth “Mike” Thayer.  Mike never talked about his experience in World War II.  Years after his death, Tamara and her father came across a box containing her grandfather’s uniform and she wanted to give it to her son, who is currently in the military.  Beneath the uniform was a wealth of information about Ellsworth Thayer, including pictures from the war, his military journal, letters and medals. Tamara was urged to tell her grandfather’s story and gave presentations to many schools.  She recorded his story for posterity in “A Country Doctor Goes to War.”

I couldn’t help but feel the love and pride that went into creating this tribute.  It is a well written time piece to be cherished by the family for sure, but will certainly touch the lives of those men and women that served in or had family members that served in World War II.  My own grandfather served in the war and he personally put his story to paper before he passed, over a decade ago now, and everyone in the family has a copy of his typed pages.  I love that Ms. Thayer took her grandfather’s story quite a bit further, publishing it for family and the public alike.

The book itself is beautiful, a piece of art, really.  Nice thick glossy pages were used which really does a service to the family photos and I love the inclusion of copies of Doc Thayer’s handwritten journal.  The whole presentation is very well done. 

I highly recommend “A Country Doctor Goes to War” by Tamara Thayer to history buffs, those intrigued by the individual stories behind the war and all others interested in reading about how the life of one man made such a difference to many.  Well done.